Smelly fleece or just smelly pigs?

Monykutzu

Monykutzu

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi everyone, I am just wondering what fleece cage liners you use? When I was looking around, about a couple of months ago everywhere seemed to be a long lead time so I went with a lady of FB. She told me she uses the same liners with her pigs and changes twice a week, some fleece liners with a nylon base. I went for those and although for the past couple of months they were ok, now they stink of "farm" even after washing them. I tried to always air dry them so I can't work out why they are still smelly. I use non-bio detergent and vinegar. I don't use a lot of detergent and I don't overload the washing machine. As soon as they are dry they smell so they have to be changed more often, because they smell as soon as put down... how do I fix this? I use puppy pads, old towels and then the liners on top. Any ideas welcome.
 
I don’t like the nylon supposed waterproof backed liners as they do tend to smell quite quickly. I use washable incontinence pads with fleece blanket on top, varying sizes of pads in high pee areas. Pads are changed every couple of days and I usually do a full clear out once per week. I don’t know why yours smell, though it can depend on whether they are boars or sows. If you clean too thoroughly boars can scent mark more and make quite a smell.
 
I only use fleece as bedding in summer (my two boys live in my shed) but I also do as Kath and use pads with a fleece blanket laid over the top and mine doesn’t smell (I’ve had the same fleece blankets for two and a half years)
 
But to work out if it is the pigs or the liners you could always buy a cheap fleece blanket and a pack of disposable puppy pads and see what happens if you use those for a week or two instead.
 
They are sows, so I don't think they mark (as much) as boars? I will give the blanket fleece a try, where do you buys these from? Thank you!
 
Polar fleece, not the soft, silky one. I got mine from B&M and Asda do a two for £6 pack which I’ve found to be good. You’ll need to wash and dry three times without softener to get them to wick - fleece dried pretty quickly so it shouldn’t take long. If you’re any good with a sewing machine, pads can be made with fleece and wadding - lots of youtube postings showing you how it’s done.
 
KathT said:
Polar fleece, not the soft, silky one. I got mine from B&M and Asda do a two for £6 pack which I’ve found to be good. You’ll need to wash and dry three times without softener to get them to wick - fleece dried pretty quickly so it shouldn’t take long. If you’re any good with a sewing machine, pads can be made with fleece and wadding - lots of youtube postings showing you how it’s done.
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This is great, thank you for your reply. I don't have a sewing machine or know how to use one but I will get some fleece blankets and hopefully the smell will go away.
 
How many times do you wash the fleece for it to wick? I've bought 4 of the Dunelm fleeces and washed them in cold water 4 times, haven't used any detergent, left them completely to dry in between and they water is pooling on top. Am I doing something wrong?
 
Monykutzu said:
How many times do you wash the fleece for it to wick? I've bought 4 of the Dunelm fleeces and washed them in cold water 4 times, haven't used any detergent, left them completely to dry in between and they water is pooling on top. Am I doing something wrong?
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wash on a normal temperature washing cycle with detergent (no softener) and some vinegar.
 
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